Peaceful Predial
by ColorsInTheSea
Summary: A few years after humanity recaptures Wall Maria, Eren is suddenly declared dead. Mikasa quits the Scouting Legion to peacefully raise her son Elam. On an expedition outside the walls, Elam suddenly turns into a titan just like his father and the truth unveils from there. Full Summary Inside. / MANGA SPOILERS / Rated M / Canonverse, Headcanons, OCs /
1. An Ending She Never Longed For

_A/N: Chapter 1 was rewritten. All I did was add more details; the plot stays the same.  
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_Also, the full summary: _

_A few years after humanity recaptured Wall Maria, Eren is suddenly declared dead. Mikasa quits the Scouting Legion and peacefully raises her son, Elam in Shiganshina. Elam, like his father, longs for the freedom that the outside world promises and joins the Scouts at the age of 15. On an expedition outside of the walls led by Commander Armin, Elam turns into a titan just like Eren after he is triggered to do so by a close friend's death. Oblivious to his titan powers, Elam is taken into custody by the Scouting Legion and the truth(story) unveils from there. _

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><p><em>An Ending She Never Longed For<em>

Year 861

Mikasa slowly dipped her hand into the prickly, green grass. Her hand played with the grass, weaving them in and out of her fingers every few seconds. She loved the grass, and she didn't exactly know why. Maybe, it was because it gave her a distant memory of him every time she sat in it. A warm smile rose on her face as a peacefully sleeping Eren flashed back into her mind. She leaned against the same tree that Eren laid under many years ago. The tree was amazingly untouched, despite all the rubble that went flying down on them during that one day in 845. The hill that she sat on, the grass that she played with, the tree that she leaned against, it all felt so nostalgic. Everything here was so old to her, yet at the same time, so new.

The soft wind blew her now-long black hair, caressing its silk-like features with every breeze that came flying by. Usually, Mikasa despised when the wind played with her hair, but whenever she sat at this spot, she didn't mind it when the wind came by. At this hill, she always felt calm and safe, which were emotions that she thought had been long discarded. The sun shined in the high sky; it danced with the white clouds that covered it every once in a while. Colorful birds flew by, chirping every time they circled the area. The color of the usual day sky was not blue, but a beautiful turquoise today.

Her dark eyes settled right below the sun, onto the top of the wall. There were black and white geese, flying freely in and out of the walls. She would have loved to be one of those geese – having the power to safely leave the peace of the inner walls and explore the outside world. Mikasa slowly extended her arm towards the geese, pretending that she was grabbing onto one of their wings. She wanted to know. What was so beautiful in the outside worlds that made the geese want to leave? What was so beautiful in the outside world that made _him_ want to leave? Her voice cracked, making her sound like she was going to cry, "Take me with you, please." She was too late though, for she let go of the bird's wing and it flew outside the walls quickly. Her arm slowly pulled back to her side and she gave an inaudible sigh.

"Woah," a small voice whispered. Mikasa's head immediately turned around to a young boy, standing in the ankle-high grass. His face held both confusion and joy, making it oddly easy to interpret what was on his mind. His eyes matched the color of the day's sky – turquoise. They lit up as he patted the round object in front of him. His soft, small hands, the size no bigger than a juggling ball, tapped the sphere-like item.

Sasha awkwardly smiled, "Is it really that big?" Her face turned almost as red as Mikasa's scarf. She was sitting with her legs spread open – it was the only comfortable position for her, really. Her right hand rubbed her big stomach while her left hand grazed the grass. Elam paused for a second, but then gave Sasha a big, long nod.

"It's really, really big!" Elam blurted out without giving a second thought about what he had just said. Mikasa's eyes softly widened at the disrespect that her son just displayed. Small hints of heat filled up her cheeks in embarrassment. Even though he was only five years old, Mikasa thought that she would have taught her son better by now. He should have known not to say something so rude to an elder.

"Elam," Mikasa's voice was raised a little bit. She gave him a stern look of disapproval, hoping that he would apologize to the young woman. Though, Elam decided to ignore his mother and kept on patting Sasha's stomach. Mikasa bit her lip. A small headache rose to her head. "He's pretending to be ignorant," she saw through Elam.

Sasha's eyes darted towards Mikasa's and right away, she knew that she was angry. "It's okay Mikasa," she smiled one more time. It was amazing; Mikasa's soft mixture of anger and disappointment toned down immediately. Sasha looked down at Elam and softly placed her hand on his. Elam's eyes widened at this gesture. She patted his hand a few times, a way of stalling her words. With a bit of hesitation, Sasha released dabbles out of her lips, "There's a baby in there."

Elam let out a small gasp as his eyes widened. He was extremely amazed at the fact that a baby could fit inside somebody's stomach, but at the same time, he was horrified. Mikasa never bothered to teach Elam the simple rules of pregnancy. Mikasa herself didn't even know the rules until she was around 17 years old, though she eventually learned it from Connie when he jokingly said that he wanted Sasha to bare his child. Of course, Sasha _did_ bare his child in the end. Because of this, Elam never actually learned that babies grow in stomachs.

With his turquoise eyes wide opened, he gave a small cough. With a worry look on his face, he clenched his fists and looked up at Sasha. "How long has it been in there? How did it get in there?" His voice was rough and hoarse, and it sounded as if he desperately wanted to know the answers to his questions.

Sasha smiled once more. "6 months," she answered him softly. "It's been in there for 6, long months," she complained a little bit. The second question though, Sasha didn't answer. She didn't exactly know if Elam was up for the science of how babies were made. So there was silence. Neither Sasha or Elam talked, or Mikasa, who was watching closely. After a few seconds, a faint laughing could be heard from Connie. Sasha's pupil bounced out of the corner of her eyes to meet Connie's. With a little smirk, she jokingly muttered, "I don't know how the baby got in here actually. Why don't you ask Uncle Connie?"

"I uh…" Connie stammered. "I don't know how the baby got in there either… haha…" he mumbled a little lie.

Elam's face slowly retorted from an amazed and happy face to a disgusted and angry face. Mikasa looked at her son with disgusted eyes of her own, as if she knew what he was going to do. She leaned towards the boy who kept staring at the stomach. After a long pause, he clenched his hands, making them into fists, and released a soft grumble from his lips.

"We…" he whispered, his eyes full of determination "should get her out of there!" Elam quickly swung his fist at Sasha's stomach, but a quicker arm caught his before he could even touch her belly. He turned around to see Mikasa. Her eyes were filled with horror, disappointment, and anger. Elam shot back his own look, his eyes buzzed with anger – you can practically see flames inside of them. He didn't know why his mother would pull him back at a time like this.

"Elam!" Mikasa growled as she gripped her son's wrist even tighter. "Don't you dare hit Sasha!" He harshly tried to pull his mother's hand off his wrist, but every time he swung his hand, hoping that he could wiggle Mikasa's hold off, she just squeezed even tighter.

Tears began to make their way down to his cheeks. "There's a baby stuck in there though!" he shouted passionately, trying not to sound offensive to Aunt Sasha.

"Don't be stupid!" Mikasa shouted, hoping to drill some sense into her young son's skull. He was hard-headed, unsurprisingly like his father. "The baby will come out when it wants to!"

"But what if it never comes out?!" More tears flowed onto his cheeks, faster this time. "What… what if…" he was cut off by a hiccup. His little arms once again struggled to let go of his mother's hold. Elam, just like Eren, valued freedom. If there was one thing he couldn't take, it was being caged back, sort of like how Mikasa was doing with him. And he couldn't take the thought of somebody else being caged back against their own will.

"Elam," a voice whispered. Elam's eyes looked up to see Sasha moving her lips, "The baby will come out when it's ready. And I have a feeling it'll come out soon." Elam stared at her as she laughed happily. Connie nodded to Elam as well. Slowly, he unclenched his fists and put his arms down, signaling that he wasn't going to try to hurt Sasha's baby anymore. Mikasa let go of her son's hands and sighed.

Elam placed his head down in humiliation, hiding his turquoise eyes with his bangs. "I'm…sorry," he hiccupped again. Tears kept drifting onto his face. His face turned red from both crying and from embarrassment. "I just… thought… maybe it was stuck in there forever." He used his small palms to wipe away the tears on his face. "I…just…"

Mikasa leaned down next to her son. "Elam, calm down," she picked her son up as he started hiccupping again. She carried him in both arms, patting his back, trying to get him to calm down. Though, Elam just cried even harder as he recalled his mother's dark eyes from earlier. He could feel the disappointment they shined with. On top of that, his silly act humiliated his mother in front of her friends. "E…lam…" she swung him around. After a few minutes of muffled crying, Elam finally stopped.

Armin sat in the grass a few feet away from everybody else, slightly hidden behind the tall grass, reading the book that he had always read – the book about the outside world. He saw what had happened and decided to help his childhood friend out by taking the troublesome child away from her. Armin knew that Elam loved the book about the outside world. Elam accidentally stumbled into it one day when he visited Armin's place with Mikasa. Ever since then, he's been fascinated with the outside world.

"Eeee-laamm!" Armin shouted like a child, waving. "Do you want to read?" he asked, pulling the book up.

Elam looked at Armin's book with his big, puffy, red eyes over Mikasa's shoulder. He clenched his fists, and took a deep breath before turning his head over to his mom. "Mommy, can I…?" he whispered to her, implying that she had heard Armin as well.

"Yeah," her reply was short and sweet. Mikasa slowly placed Elam on the ground. As soon as his feet touched the grass, he ran over to Armin and jumped right onto his lap. Armin flipped to a random page in the book, and you could see Elam's eyes glow already.

Mikasa smiled as well and sit down against a French friend she called Jean. He was staring at the beautiful sky, or he was sleeping, she couldn't exactly tell. A gust of wind flew by and Mikasa's hair ruffled against her chin; her hair had grown long and beautiful these past years – she preferred it long anyways. Jean's hair though, stayed the same messy bunch he had when they first met. Even though so many things have changed, there will always be one or two things that stay the same. Neither of them said a word to each other; they just enjoyed the nice day that the heavens blessed upon them.

"They're gone now." Mikasa broke the silence. A smile set on her face, but Jean couldn't tell if it was a smile from happiness and relief or pain and grief. He sat up in the grass and stretched a little.

"Really?" Jean replied. The wind blew once more, ruffling his hair, which hid the few tears that streamed down his face. "That's great," he smiled bravely.

Mikasa nodded and pulled her red scarf up to her chin. "You…" she hesitated for a second. "You can stop now. You can stop pretending to be Elam's father." Her words were cold, but her voice sounded so sincere.

Jean looked away from Mikasa's direction. "I guess I will," he mumbled. Slowly, he rotated his head over to the young boy who sat in the man's lap, both of them engaged in that fascinating book. "So, this is the end?"

She hesitated for a second, and then nodded once more. Mikasa bit her lip and fought back the tears that threatened to come out of her eyes. Weakly, she smiled, but nobody could tell, because she pulled her red scarf all the way up to her nose. It was the end a long time ago. Mikasa found her ending, but it wasn't the ending she wanted. She had come all this way, through all this trouble, for this almost-perfect ending. She had everything she always wanted, except for that one thing, that one person. _Eren. _That's who she truly wanted to be with. Living peacefully with her son and knowing that everything is safe and sound almost didn't matter to her if Eren wasn't here. It _almost _didn't. This ending wasn't the one she longed for, but she had to accept it.

"Yeah," her voice broke. She tried to fight back the tears, but she couldn't. They softly came out of her eyes, but she wiped them away quickly before Jean could turn his head back over.

"I'll stop then," he grinned widely. "I'll stop pretending to be Elam's father," he lowered his voice, cautious of the young boy hearing their conversation. "I only pretended to be his father in front of the Military Police. Elam doesn't see me as a father anyways," he threw his head back in a chuckle.

A soft silence flew through them, as always. Jean brushed his hair with his hand, and turned around to Mikasa, wanting to break what seemed like a never ending silence. He let out a small gasp as he looked at the now-crying woman. Jean had seen Mikasa cry before, many times actually, but he didn't understand why she would be crying at this moment. "M…Mikasa," his cracked voice slipped through his throat. "Why are you…?" He asked, reaching a hand over to her face to wipe away her tears.

Mikasa pushed Jean's hand away and pulled the scarf up to cover the bottom half of her face. "Thank you Jean," she whispered. Her voice broke under the heavy words that she forced herself to speak. "Thank you… for..." The scarf muffled her voice slightly, but Jean could understand everything she was saying. "For…" she choked on her own tears and struggled to make the words out correctly. "Thank you for… all the… everything… I… thank… Jean,"

Jean sat up straight and pulled Mikasa in for a hug. His arm wrapped around her back as his other hand touched the tips of her long hair. He placed his head softly on her shoulder. Mikasa leaned her chin on his shoulder, crying and wrapping an arm around Jean. Both of them were comfortable with this gesture – they felt warm and happy.

"It's okay," Jean whispered in her ear, patting her back as the words flew out of his mouth. Mikasa's eyes widened in surprise a little bit, but Jean couldn't see it. "You don't have to say it if you don't want to," he spoke, as if he knew what Mikasa was going to say. He rubbed her back and comforted her for the next minute or two – saying things like "it's going to be alright," in her ear.

After a minute or two of muffled sobbing, Mikasa finally calmed down. She gave a weak smile and tightened the hug that both of them shared. Moments like these weren't ever new. After Eren disappeared 6 years ago, Jean has always been by Mikasa's side. There was nobody else to do it, except maybe Armin, but he wasn't around often. Jean had to play the hero role, the role that saved the heroine. Every time Mikasa cried or melted down, it was always Jean who came running towards her. He always pulled her into a hug and whispered things that he wouldn't normally say. These moments happened so often that it became usual.

Mikasa's smile grew, and she pushed the scarf back down to her chin. "Thank you Jean." A pause lingered in the air as she slowly pushed herself off of Jean. They were still very close, at the point where their bodies would touch if one of them moved. "Thank you for pretending to be Elam's father." She clenched her fists and spoke clearly. "Thank you… for dealing with the Military Police." Tears drifted down her cheeks again, but this time, they were tears of joy. "Thank you for… everything you've done for me and Elam. Thank you for sticking by our side all these years!"

Jean looked straight at Mikasa's gray eyes. He could tell that she was really grateful for everything that he has done for her all this time. Small emits of happiness began to built up in his chest. The tenderness rose and the tension in his chest burst open. He would never admit it, but he really enjoyed these moments with Mikasa. These moments are what created the wonderful bond between the two. "I guess," he started. He scooted away from Mikasa and lied down in the grass. "It's alright." Jean sighed. Mikasa went back to the tree and leaned against it, watching the same sky that he was watching.

Jean closed his eyes and reminisced on what happened during these past eleven, long years. The warmth in his chest was replaced with an aching, cold feeling. It was a dramatic change. In the year 850 and 851, everybody was on the verge of crying their hearts out and just killing themselves. Then the next few years followed with amazing peace. It was a drastic change. 850 – 851. Right now, those years just felt like a dream to all of the former 104th Trainees Squad Cadets. They felt unreal. A lot happened in those years, maybe _too much_ happened. Some major events in Jean's life took place in the year 856, but it was resolved quickly. Everything's been peaceful since then.

_It's for the best. _Jean thought as he heard a young boy's voice cry from a few feet away. _Our ending – it's peaceful now. _

Nothing truly ended yet though. What they thought had ended was just the calm before the storm.

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><p><em>AN: Everything in this story is canon up to Chapter 61. / __Ahh! There's lots of Jeankasa in this chapter, but I swear it's still an Eremika fan fic! Also: Jean does NOT have any feelings for Mikasa any more. He values her as a close friend, and not as a crush or anything like that. Same goes for Mikasa. / Anyways, the next chapter will be mainly about Armin. Hope it comes out soon! _


	2. Commander Armin Arlert

_Commander Armin_

Year 861

The tension in the air made both of them more nervous and uncomfortable than they already were. Armin ruffled his blonde hair, not caring if they become oily by his sweaty palms or if he ends up looking like a gigantic mess by the end of the day. He was almost literally pulling out his hair in stress and the soft chattering in the next room was only making every single second worse. He could feel his blood pressure skyrocketing, to the point where he was almost violently shaking and he couldn't calm down at all. He couldn't stop the butterflies that flew in his stomach or the havoc in his wide mind.

In the corner of the room was Jean Kirstein, one of Armin's close friends, a former cadet part of the 104th trainee squad, and a respected Scouting Legion member. He watched closely as his friend paced back and forth around the room, almost looking as if he was going to have a panic attack, right there, right now. Jean was nervous as well, but not as nervous as Armin. If Armin was the same person he was 10 years ago, then he would have passed out from the overwhelming pressure by now.

Today, there was a gigantic meeting prepared for the Scouting Legion. Everybody was going to change positions, and the 14th commander of the SL, Hange Zoe, was going to step down from her plate and present the new leader. To a lot of people, including Armin and Jean, it was a big surprise. Most of them didn't understand why Hange would step down from her position now. Hange Zoe was an all well fine leader, and the Scouts got so much done under her command. She was also still young, so it wouldn't be necessary for her to resign. Armin understood though – Hange was placed with the _burden _of being the commander.

She never wanted to be the commander, but yet, she was assigned that by Erwin. Hange didn't believe it at first, how Erwin abruptly left one day, saying that she was going to be the 14th commander of the Scouts. She never called herself the commander until Erwin came back. And even when he survived all the bullshit that the Elites tried to throw at him, he still didn't change his mind. He officially stepped down and pulled Hange to the stand. Though Hange didn't want to be the commander, she knew that she was the best choice for it and that it would be more logical for her to be the new leader than anybody else. Armin honestly understood on as why she was stepping down, especially after 11 long years. She had done so much good for them that she deserved her break.

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><p><em>Hange looked at the twenty or something people around the room. She stood on a chair and gave a weak smile. She turned her head over to Levi, who was standing on the left of her. "As for Levi, he will have the honor of staying in his spot as second-in-command." <em>

_ A few people in the room gasped as a few others nodded. A lot of people were sure, this time; Levi would become the new commander, right after Hange Zoe. Even though Levi was a very strong soldier, "Humanity's Strongest" they called him, he wasn't exactly the type of person to have the ability to sanely lead more than 1000 people. Levi seemed to not care though; he didn't want to become commander anyways. After a second or two, the clapping started. When it died down, Hange spoke again._

_ Hange grinned. "As for me…" she paused for a second, "I'll be stepping down as commander." As again, a few people gasped, more people this time, and a few others nodded, as if they were expecting the news. There was only faint clapping, probably since the majority of the people in the room were shocked and couldn't react properly. _

_ "It's been a great 11 years being commander," Hange turned her head over to the right, "I enjoyed my reign, and hopefully, you guys did too," she laughed and everybody else in the room followed her, making an echo. "Thank you to Moblit, my assistant of way too many years." She pointed at Moblit, who was trying to hold back the tears. "Under my lead, we managed to recapture Wall Maria," clapping roared, "and Shiganshina District."_

_ "Thank you to Erwin Smith, who helped us through my entire command, even though he was retired. To Levi for being a great second-in-command, and to Pixis for not trying to sneak around booze on the expeditions." Everybody in the room laughed, with Pixis giving a bow as if not being drunk was an achievement. "I'll talk more about them at the party we're having tonight, but let's get onto what's really important here."_

_ Hange cleared her throat and scanned her eyes around the room. "As for who's becoming commander," she paused as she struggled to find that one person. After a few seconds, she finally saw the man and gave a quick smile at him. "That person is," another pause, "Armin Arlert."_

_ Armin's eyes widened as he heard his name. He swallowed hard and could feel his heart beating through his arms. Anxiously, he stared at Hange straight in the eye, who was staring straight back at him with a gigantic smile on her face. He heard correctly right? Of course he did, otherwise Hange wouldn't be giving him such a creeper look and there wouldn't be 38 other eyes focused on him. _

_ He didn't know why he felt so surprised. Armin expected to become commander. Everybody did. It was either Levi or Armin who was for sure on the ballot towards being the next leader, and Hange already revealed that Levi was keeping his position as the lieutenant. Armin didn't exactly feel ready to become the head. He was prepared to take on the position, but he wasn't mentally ready. _

_ Everybody in the room clapped wildly, especially Jean and Connie. Armin didn't budge though when people started whispering on why he was standing as still as a stick. The butterflies in his stomach only increased when Hange called out his name, "Congratulations Armin." She waved at him to come up and shake her hand. _

_ Armin nervously smiled and walked up near the chair. He shook her hand and everybody else in the room clapped once more, with Jean and Connie again wildly slamming their hands together. No doubt, they were proud of their once blonde fledgling. "Thank you, Hange," Armin mumbled just loud enough that everybody could hear._

_ Hange patted Armin's back and threw her head back in a laugh. "Don't thank me Armin!" He stepped back into the crowd of 20-something people with a flustered face. Hange cleared her throat and shouted, "Ah, that's all for today. I'll let everybody know if their positions changed or not after the meeting in about 3 weeks." People started clapping once more and the room quickly dispersed._

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><p>"Armin, calm down," concerned, Jean spoke with sincerity. If possible, Armin's eyes perked up even more than they were. He snapped from his thoughts and glanced over at his close friend, who had stood up and settled near him. Armin put his head down and began to take a few deep breaths, hoping that would calm him and ridicule him of his anxiety.<p>

There was a slight pause after Armin took his breaths. He tilted his head down, buried under his bangs, hoping that Jean wouldn't see his flustered face. Still nervous, Armin managed to make out, "Thank you Jean." He took another deep breath and continued, "I'm just… nervous… that's all."

"I understand," Jean sat back down in his seat and leaned against it. He sighed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what would happen with the changes of the positions. Pondering out of his mind, Jean peaked over at Armin, whose face he could clearly see despite Armin's attempt at hiding it. Jean examined Armin and grinned. "He's really changed over these years… huh," Jean thought.

Armin wasn't the same, scrawny boy he was when he first joined the military. Jean didn't know what rushed over Armin, but after Historia captured the throne and took her rightful place as the queen, Armin became determined to strengthen himself in every way that he could. All the restless nights doing push-ups and carrying sandbags and training with the 3DMG really helped Armin out, since now he was _almost_ as strong as Jean was when it came to combat. Armin was even more intelligent than he was before, if that was possible. His hair had grown to be right above his shoulder, and he placed part of the back strokes in a small ponytail. Armin had managed to collect his confidence just to the point where he wouldn't be labeled as a person with low self-esteem. His personality seemed to stay the same though. If you described Armin Arlert from whom he was sixteen years ago and who he was now, you wouldn't think that they would be the same person.

Armin looked over at Jean, who had a really bad sucker face. "What are you smiling about?" he shyly said, trying to better the mood. Jean blinked once or twice before resorting to his neutral expression. He shook his head, "Nothing."

The door to the next room opened slowly and out was a smiling Hange. She pushed her glasses up a bit and looked around the room of two. "Armin," she mumbled while her eyes were set on him. Armin could feel the knots in his stomach becoming jumbled. He wasn't ready for this, he wasn't ready one bit. He weakly smiled at Hange and stared at her for a minute or two, trying to delay what had to be done. But he knew he couldn't stall it any longer, especially after Hange gave him a look of displeasure. He unwillingly got up from his chair and walked over to the door, knowing that if he didn't, then Hange would just pick him up princess-style and carry him inside.

Hange smiled and walked in the door, Armin slowly following behind. He turned his head over to Jean right before entering the next room, hoping that he would give Armin a thumbs-up or a smile for good luck. Horseface did both. Armin lowly chuckled and turned around, closing the door behind him.

The room looked like any other room that held meetings. There was a long, wooden table in the middle covered by a red and yellow cloth. Wooden chairs surrounded the table with a special chair up in the front for the head. There was a bookcase on both sides of the room; one of them was dusty while the other one looked recently used. A Scouting Legion flag was placed right next to the door while the Three Wall's flags stood on the opposite side of the door. Light shined through the windows to the point where you could see the dust floating in it and the walls were covered with a red print.

Armin looked around the room and he could already see a few people seated. Many of them were people with high positions or veterans from more than 10 years ago. Levi was sitting down, drinking tea as Erwin gestured him to put it away. Pixis sat in the room, fortunately not intoxicated, and Moblit was there as well. Shadis leaned against a wall and there were some other people in the room.

Hange placed herself down in the special chair up in the front and Armin took a seat in an empty chair, taking baby steps as he walked. Armin stayed dead silent as Hange and the others introduced themselves. He didn't know what to do, or what to say, whether he should greet the person or just nod quietly along. The burning red on his heavy cheeks weren't helping him, especially when it was his time to introduce himself. "My name is Armin Arlert, squad leader," he spoke just loud enough that everybody could hear him.

Hange cleared her throat as the last person said their name outloud. "Alright!" she gave an eyeful smile and sat up in the throne's seat. "I'm sure you guys all know why we're here today!" her hands grazed the documents in front of her, carefully picking up the first stack of papers. Everybody solemnly smiled and laid their eyes on her.

"I'll make this quick and easy. As you all know, I'm stepping off the mat today," the room went dead silent, "We're here to appoint a new commander and new positions. Let's start with the commander."

An aching feeling of wanting to throw up rose in Armin's stomach – he didn't know if he was ready for this. Hange looked at Armin and smiled one more time, inaudibly signaling Armin to calm down. "That's Armin Arlert," she gestured at him and everybody's head turned over to him. Claps started echoing all over the room and somebody even unprofessionally whistled. The clapping and the congratulating made Armin feel a little better, but it wasn't enough to stop him from attempting to bury his face under his bangs.

A few seconds later, he pushed his bangs out of his face and whispered, "Hange, I have a question." Hange's eyes perked up at the man, she nodded. "…Why did… you pick me to be the commander?" As soon as the words slipped out of his mouth, Armin almost regretted asking that question. No, he regretted the way he said it – it was in the same tone as that weak, little boy he was 16 years ago. He knew that it was completely fine to be nervous in a situation like this, but it wasn't fine to sink back to the pathetic human being he used to be.

But in all honesty, Armin didn't really understand why he was chosen to be commander. He knew that Hange had reasons as to why she picked him, as to why she would pick the weak duckling that needs to be carried by mother duck. Armin knew that his intelligence was off the charts and his tactics were his specialty, but to him, it wasn't enough. Being able to critically think, to Armin, wasn't enough to become commander. To Armin, being a commander was being a leader and a leader needed more than just intelligence. They needed the strength, the ability to make wise choices, the courage to fight, the will to take responsibility for all the soldiers that died under the command. They needed lots of things, lots of things that Armin did not think he had.

Then a laugh appeared – one that shouldn't have existed in a situation like this, but it did, it existed. The bitter atmosphere that Armin brought up was quickly cleared away as all eyes arose on Hange, who was laughing almost manically. It was almost rude of Hange to burst out like this, in the middle of nowhere, under such a serious question. After a few minutes, she calmed herself and sat up in her chair with a big smile on her face, "Armin," she confidently smiled, "name somebody who you think would be a better commander than you."

Armin sternly glared at Hange, not really knowing what to say. It was the desperation of not thinking he was good enough that led to Armin blurting out names. "Jean," he whimsically murmured, only a second later, wishing he hadn't said that. He tightened his hands into fists, but his fists were hidden under the table so nobody could see the furthering anxiety rushing through him.

Hange laughed even harder than the first time, "That horseface?!" she threw her head back and wrapped her hands around her stomach as if it was just oh so funny. You could hear something like a chair being thrown on the other side of the door, where Jean sat quietly.

"He's not that bad of a person," Armin defended quickly. It's true, Jean wasn't. When they first met as cadets at the trainees camp, Jean wasn't exactly the type of person you think would become commander. After joining the Scouting Legion though, Armin could have sworn that something rushed right through Jean that made him the type of person who was born to be a leader, the type of person who you could swear your life and he would protect it with every amount of energy he has.

Hange ran her fingers through her hair, "Yeah. Jean's not bad, but he's not good either. He has a temper almost as bad as Eren," she admitted, literally biting her lip afterwards.

It was kind of awkward, kind of weird, mentioning his name, _Eren_. Nobody talked about him anymore, maybe because it hurt too much to talk about. He wasn't anything special, aside from his titan powers of course. But, at the same time, Eren was just a normal soldier, a normal person part of the Scouting Legion. And people in the Scouts talked about dead people, how strong they were, how their deaths will make a big change for humanity, people talked. But they didn't talk about Eren, at all. The last time Hange could recall even hearing his name was a little after Elam was born. Maybe that was because she wanted to shield herself from Eren, protect herself from the reminiscence of the guilt she felt on the day he died, on the day he disappeared.

A pause rose in the room, "Hange?" Armin spoke with caution. He couldn't tell what was going on in Hange's mind, for her poker face covered anything and everything.

Hange's head bounced up and she stared at Armin with her eyes, wide open. "Ah! Sorry!" she swiftly rejoiced, "I got lost in my thoughts again." She cleared her throat, "As I was saying. Jean could be a candidate for being the next commander, but he has a temper that forces him to make some rash decisions. He's going to be in charge of 1000 or so people and half-thought-out choices aren't the thing we need here."

Armin nodded, not necessarily in agreement, but he didn't have anything to add to the topic. "What about Connie?"

"Ahh, well, Connie," Hange started, but she was cut off by the harshness of another voice.

Levi stared right into Armin's eyes with fiery in them. He looked at Armin in such a disgusting way that made Armin's stomach twist and turn and knot even more than it was even possible. Levi was clearly disappointed with him, "Armin," he said as if he was repulsed by the blonde man.

"Are you dense?" A throbbing lump could be felt in Armin's throat. He shook his head, not really knowing what to reply. Levi pitifully sighed and loosened one of the buttons on his shirt. Everybody in the room watched with a painful expression on their face, switching back from the speechless Armin and the annoyed Levi. "No, you aren't dense. You aren't hard-headed and stubborn like any other bastard here."

Armin didn't know if the words being sputtered out of Levi's mouth were supposed to make him feel better, but he didn't hesitate to nod his head and subconsciously smile. It was a true relief to hear that especially from the great man himself.

"Look, Armin, the reason why we chose you is because you have potential," in a serious tone, he stared at the blonde man with no longer a devious look, but a look of passion. Every word that came out of Levi's mouth was the truth and it couldn't have been a lie in any way, "I'd put my life in your hands."

Armin's mouth dropped and he let out an inaudiable gasp. He had heard correctly, right? This wasn't just some stupid hallucination or a dream about him becoming commander, right? No, it wasn't. Armin was living in this world, and he was awake and conscious and he wasn't hallucinating and he heard correctly. _I'd put my life in your hands_. He had always heard something similar to that, he was always taking charge and mapping out plans that put everybody's lives at risk, but they trusted him. No matter whom it was or where they were, people were willing to let Armin hold their lives, even if it's by a whim string.

But maybe it was actually the way Levi said it, the way that he had straightforwardly blurted out in the middle of the room that he completely trusts Armin to the point where he could gamble his life under his command that made Armin realize and Mikasa said something like that to him a long, long time ago. That they trusted him; that his intuition saved them over and over when they were on the brink of dying. And Levi just said the same exact thing.

Armin had potential, he had the power and the will to lead the Scouting Legion and he should have accepted that right away. He shouldn't have been so oblivious to the fact that he was worthy of leading them, and he should have been all the way thankful for this opportunity. He wished he wasn't such an idiot. He wished that he didn't let the building of anxiety and pressure fall on him, crushing him and burying his whole body under tons and tons of nervousness. He wished that he could have saved himself from the rubble that flew everywhere and didn't rely on Levi to save him and pull him out from the concrete. And he wouldn't let it happen again. He didn't want to let it happen again – if there was ever a time where a building fell on him, where the fire around him burned, he wouldn't rely on others to save him but rather be the one others are relying on.

"…Thank you," Armin croaked after a long silence. Levi leaned back in his chair, sighing and rudely placing his feet upon the table. Armin didn't know what to say, and as he gathered his thoughts, everybody else in the room relaxed their shoulders and sighed just like Levi.

"I appreciate it," Armin grinned. "I see now. Thank you, Hange, Levi," he looked at the both of them and to the rest of the room, "everybody else. I realize now that I'm worth something and I wasn't just picked for any good reason. And that I shouldn't have asked all these stupid questions and should have just gone along with it."

Levi frowned, "No," he spoke up, "I'm glad that you asked these questions. If you didn't, then you would have become the commander without knowing the true reason as to why you were chosen. That would make you ignorant, and they're the worst type of commanders."  
>Armin forced a chuckle and ran his sweaty palms through his hair, fidgeting with it to calm himself down. Maybe some good does come out of being an idiot – except Armin wasn't an idiot and just anxiety-filled.<p>

The room went silent once more. Then, Hange leaned back against her chair, stretching, trying to reach the sky with her arms and trying to reach hell with her legs. "Ahhh," she loudly exclaimed with a smile on her face. She sat right back up again, "now that that's established, why don't we officially declare Armin as the commander?" Everybody in the room nodded.

Hange got up from her seat and Armin did as well. They both stood on opposite ends of the room, with their hands to their sides and feet together. They gazed into each other's eyes, never breaking the contact. "Armin, are you ready?" Hange whispered. There was no reply from him, which indicated that he must have been prepared.

"I, Hange Zoe, the 14th commander of the Scouting Legion, will immediately resign from my post!" she shouted so everybody in the room and in the nearby rooms can hear her. "In my place, also known as the 15th commander of the Scouting Legion will be the respected squad leader, Armin Arlert!"

Right after that, Levi finally sat back up and yelled, "Give up your hearts!" Both of them gracefully saluted in sync with one another, making a loud *thump* sound as they did. They both stood in the room like statues for a few more seconds before Hange let go of her position and sat back down. Armin followed her movements and also returned to his seat.

Hange stared at Armin, who was still nervous, less nervous, but still nervous. There was only seriousness in her eyes and no account for any joy, remorse, or relief. "Congrats Armin!" she cheerfully shouted unexpectedly. A few chuckles appeared from here and there. Clapping could all be heard around the room. Hange laughed wildly and everybody else laughed along with her, even Armin.

As the happiness died down, Levi cleared his throat. "Arlert. Don't expect every meeting to go as softly as this one did," Armin nodded, "We only went easy on you because it's your first one and you were clearly having some issues with your confidence level or something like that."

Erwin chuckled, "Yup. Real meetings are hard, you know? Most of the time, they're going to be only you and Levi, and maybe sometimes me and Hange or Pixis will come in. And we won't always have the time to talk smoothly to you and calm you down whenever you're stressed."

"Right, thank you," Armin weakly beamed.

Hange leaned back against her chair. "Well, now we have to discuss the other positions." she sighed. "Ahh… so boring, talking about stuff like this."

"What's your call on them?" Armin asked, feeling a little bit more confident.

"I don't know," she surprisingly smirked. "I'm not the commander anymore."

"…o..oh right," Armin's face turned red and he hid his face in his shoulders for a second. "Ah, I think many of the positions should be the same." Everybody in the room nodded. "J-Jean… Jean Kirstein will continue to be a squad leader. Same for Connie Springer. Also, I think that Peter should get a promotion and …"

* * *

><p>The door creaked open and out came a young, blonde man, looking more confident and less nervous than he was before. Jean stood up in his chair from the long wait and rushed over to Armin. "How was it?" he asked, a little worried but not so worried once he saw the small smile on Armin's lips, one that really highlighted his face.<p>

Armin nodded, "It was fine. Great, actually," his smile grew bigger. Jean looked at Armin and noticed how his hands seemed less tense and how his eyes weren't shaking anymore. He sighed of a little relief and stood back from Armin.

"That's awesome then," Jean started stretching – his back was aching from sitting in a hard, wooden chair for hours, constantly worrying about how the results would come out. It wasn't like a test for if Armin had a disease or anything, but it still pained Jean.

"Well, _Commander Armin Arlert_," goosebumps came upon Armin's skin and he felt a shiver go up his spine. He would have to get used to people calling him that. "What's my new position?" Jean eagerly asked, totally forgetting the moment.

"Oh, you're still a squad leader," Armin smiled and walked over to another door. He opened it and it lead to the outdoors.

"Seriously?" Jean groaned as he walked outside along with Armin. "You couldn't have made me lieutenant or something?" He joked.

"Captain Levi is the lieutenant," Armin took Jean's joke seriously – he always does. They closed the door and by now, it was evening time.

"I was kidding, you bastard," Jean laughed, and maybe Armin actually sensed the fooling around in Jean's voice this time, because he laughed as well.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Oh my dear lord, it took so long for this chapter to come out. I honestly didn't know how to write it and I almost cried out of frustration trying to rearrange it and retype it so it'd at least be decent. I think I redid this chapter like 4 or 5 times and everything was just horrible. I'm sort of glad with the final copy of the chapter though, but it still doesn't match with what I had planned out in my mind. D: and I think my writing became worse, idk, lol. _

_I realized after reading the first half like 10 times, that I added way too many details and I said that Armin was nervous like every 2 lines. Near the end, I didn't know what to really do with the Jean-Armin scene. I kind of wanted to make it a intense, serious scene in where Jean confronts Armin just like Levi did, but I saw that there was no real need for that and just added a derpy, totally-improved scene. Also, there was an abrupt ending, but I didn't know how to end it so I just cut it off. My apologies. Sort of. _

_ANYWAYS, sorry for the long wait! This chapter wasn't in the original plan of the story and it was maybe started like a month and a half ago. Good news is that the 3__rd__ chapter is almost done! _

_Hope you enjoyed this chapter! _

_By the way, I breathe in reviews. Drop one by and make an author's day! ^_^ _


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